I for one am excited about have auctions automated but there is one thing that concerns me: Snipers. I know there will be people on my side with this debate and those not but I want to suggest a feature that sellers have the option of activating when they set up an auction.

I'm sure several have seen 'Soft ending' auctions around. Auctions that have a warning that if a pet is bid on last minute the auction is extended for a set amount of time. I would like to see something like this programmed into the automated auctions, even for item auctions. Just some small feature that will let the auctioneer chose if they want to have a soft ending auction and for how long the time would be automatically extended if the pet is bid on in the last so many minutes.

Say you set the soft ending time for 30 minutes, the time will automatically extend until that bid holds for 30 minutes. I am sure there will already be a feature that tells a person when they have been outbid but for people who choose to enable the 'soft ending' it will give that person a small window to increase their bid instead of being sniped last minute by someone who wanted the pet cheaper then they would have if they bid normally.

As both a bidder and auctioneer I hate snipers. Whenever I set up a forum auction I do place rules to prevent snipers because while someone might win a pet 'fairly' by sniping, it is rude and hurts both the other bidders and often the person auctioning. So yes, I am excited about the new auction feature coming out but I would also like to see this option added for those setting up an auction. It would be an Optional feature that you could choose to turn on or could leave it off and the auction end normally. If the feature is turned on, there should be a visable indicator to bidders that the auction is soft ending and may extend if bids are placed last minute. There should also be a setting to allow auctioneers decide how long the auction would be extended, say 10 Minute, 15 Minutes, 30 Minutes, 45 Minutes, and 1 Hour. I wouldn't suggest much longer because that would make the feature a bit annoying to bidders.

I honestly thought this was going to be an included feature (I just have seen both soft and hard end auctions systemized in different sites and its popular here on Sylestia), but I like/support this.

Yes. I'm fairly certain bidding within a certain time frame of the auction ending will increase the time until it eventually expires.